Crap weather - More time for rowing visualisation! Think you have seen all the rowing catch videos? You are probably right ;) Now try watch some swimming catch animations! feelforthewater/2014/11/video-how-trying-to-glide-harms-your.html I hope this will help in your rowing Peter Carpenter David Brkic Paulo De Mello Machado Leslie Hannon Gier Jong Catch: The most noticeable point that separates the seniors and the novices clearly from the average rowers, even when watching from 500m away. It is in my opinion the toughest thing to train and the most difficult thing to teach! As a rower I spent countless dark mornings repeating the placement / F / Russian catch exercises. As a coach, I patiently (or impatiently :P ) explained the concepts of slicing cheese, spinning wheel, early placement, back splash. It seems to me that the effort to result ratio is like 100:1, in training or coaching! Is it worth it? Hardly! But it is a must that we crack this or die trying. If improvement in physical conditioning is progressive and accumulative, that every training is like making a little deposit into your fitness bank - then improving technique is rather an enlightenment - it is more like taking a leap of faith to the next higher steps. It is a different kind of challenge. If we still hear the coach telling us anything about the catch, we are probably still doing it wrong! But hearing the same old hints from our coaches repeatedly likely wont help much but will just add stress in your already overloaded brain :D At this point, perhaps you want to look at it from a different perspective. Try and see it differently. A perspective on the catch from swimming! - Essentially swimming is using the arms like oars, moving the body like skiff through the water! - Feel for the water on both the back and the palm of your hands - The enlightening process includes realising the old feeling is not the right feeling, acknowledging that the new feeling will be a strange feeling and keep on exploring and seeking the right feeling - Instead of the old concept of 4 movement sequence: Finish - Recovery - Catch - Drive, visualise that as a new 3 movement sequence: Finish - Recovery AND catch - Drive So a beginner rower would reach his/her hands out to the furthest point, (as far forward as possible, as his/her novice coach instructed on the very first day!), and then raise his/her hands to place the blade in the water. As they push down on their feet to move the blade back in the reverse direction, they feel the pressure on the palm of the blade, that confirms the blade is submerged (so it wouldnt be an air shot!), so they accelerate their legs, body, arm movement through the drive. Similarly, a beginner swimmer would extend his/her arms and try to do the longest stroke possible. He/she would then try to grab and feel the water on the palm of the hand - and then pull/push the water back. There is a delay in the catch. Whereas a senior rower would initiate the catch toward the end of recovery while he/she is still moving forward on the slide. Their blades are submerged by the time their seats come to a stop on the slide. They first feel the pressure of the water on the back of the blade. Not letting the blade acts as a brake, they instantly connect and move in the reverse direction. Initially there is a touchy feeling on the back of the blade, then there is no pressure on either sides of the blade at all, then pressure increases on the palm of the blade. Similarly, a senior swimmer would enter his/her hand in the water, with the finger and wrist pointing slightly downward. As the body continues to move forward, he/she feels the water pressure on the back of the hand and initiate the pull. The connection is instantaneous. Beach time cross training idea! - Tummy down on a boogie board or surf board, paddle with arms and practise the good and bad catch techniques. At the end, 100m sprint race!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 02:50:43 +0000
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